Labour has accused the Government of denying consumers the chance to shop around after plans to make doctors and dentists publicly display their prices was dropped.
The party's spokesperson on Consumer Affairs, Ms Kathleen Lynch TD, has said the decision "totally contradicts the Tánaiste's mantra that the public should shop around to find cheaper prices, as it denies them clear knowledge of what they will be charged for visits to surgeries."
She said: "This decision is an astonishing U-turn by the Government. We had been waiting for its implementation for over a year after Mary Harney agreed to it at the request of the Director of Consumer Affairs. Yet now we learn that her successor, Micheal Martin, does not think the plan is feasible.
"Minister Martin is concerned that there are too many charges to display to make the plan practical. Yet pubs subject to price display orders are not required to list every drink they serve, merely those that are most popular so that the public has some guidelines as to what they being charged.
"At a time when a number of health charges are set to increase in little over 10 days, and when there is still no date for the introduction of Minister Harney's yellow-pack medical cards, those on low incomes visiting the doctor or dentist are being denied the right to know exactly what charges they face," she added.
According to a report in today's Irish Times, the proposal was put forward a year ago by the former enterprise minster Ms Harney after a request by the the Director of Consumer Affairs.
Ms Foley asked the Tánaiste to make an undertaking under the Consumer Information Act to require doctors, dentists and other health professionals to display their prices.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Martin, said the plan was abandoned for "legal and practical reasons".
A spokeswoman for Mr Martin said the legal advice was that it would not have been possible to enforce the order, and there were doubts as to whether the consumer would benefit from the move.